Delhi HC lists for hearing in February pleas against de-listing of 123 waqf properties

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday listed for hearing on February 17 next year pleas moved by the Delhi Waqf Board against the de-listing of 123 waqf properties by the Centre.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav asked the waqf board as well as the Centre to complete the pleadings in the matter in the meantime.

Last year, the Land and Development Office (L&DO) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) decided to take over the 123 properties of the Delhi Waqf Board, including mosques, dargah and graveyards, based on a report of a two-member committee.

The deputy land and development officer, in a letter to board Chairman Amanatullah Khan on February 8, 2023, informed about the decision to absolve the board from all matters related to the properties.

According to the Delhi Waqf Board, the properties have always been with it and the Centre has no power to "absolve" it of them.

The board has also filed a petition against the constitution of the two-member committee by the Centre to consider the de-listing of the Waqf properties even after a report was submitted by a one-member panel on the same issue in 2017.

In May 2023, the high court allowed the Centre to carry out an inspection of the 123 de-listed properties taken over from the Delhi Waqf Board while ensuring minimal disruption in their day-to-day administration by the body.

The Centre's counsel on Tuesday said the survey is ongoing at this stage.

The judge also issued a notice to the Centre on a related petition filed by Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi and disposed of certain pending applications seeking an interim relief of stay and status quo.

The Centre had earlier opposed the waqf board's challenge to the de-listing, saying the latter has no stake in the 123 properties as those were acquired pursuant to land-acquisition proceedings initiated several years ago.

In its reply to the petition, the Centre has said all 123 properties were acquired pursuant to land-acquisition proceedings between 1911 and 1914, compensation was paid, possession taken and mutation carried out in its favour.

It has claimed that possession has always been with the Centre and these acquisitions have attained finality and have been used for creating infrastructure.

In its petition, the waqf board has said the dispute pertaining to the properties is more than 100 years old and the Centre, in the present case, "outsourced" decision making to the committee, which wrongly concluded that the board "has no interest" in the properties in spite of representations made to it.

It was earlier said the 123 properties were clearly demarcated through four surveys conducted in 1970, 1974, 1976 and 1984 and were later assented by the president that they were waqf properties. PTI ADS RC